Condolence
by the-vampire-act
Summary: Not all the troubles of working at the BAU start during a case. In fact, sometimes they only begin afterwards. For one agent in particular, the hellish nightmare has just begun. Written for Nymphadora-CullenBAU's Season Six Competition.


**Written for Nymphadora-CullenBAU's Season Six Competition. This will remain a OneShot unless someone wants to adopt it.**

**Condolence**

"So tell me, Dr. Reid, why are you here today?"

Spencer Reid didn't even budge as the question was asked, because he physically couldn't do so. His migraine had grown to the extremes while the BAU was working a trafficking case that had gotten out of hand. He fought through it, though, and when they were finally up in the air and the team was asleep, he finally broke down in silent tears. Seconds after he had started balling, Spencer felt a sudden presence besides him. Hotch's fatherly hand had been placed on the thin shoulder, reassuring him that it was all going to be all right. 'Once we land, I'm taking you to see a doctor." And for once Spencer couldn't argue.

"He's having headaches," Aaron answered for him. "Apparently he's been having them for a while, too," he added with a sigh.

"I see," the doctor mused. "So tell me-do you know of any genetic diseases that-"

"His mother's schizophrenic," Hotch supplied quickly. "Could that be the cause of this..?"

"All the other doctors said no," Spencer supplied quietly, and he immediately regretted it. He whimpered from the pain and lowered his head again, and immediately Aaron placed his hand back on Spencer's shoulder supportively. Aaron was suddenly glad that he hadn't told the team about the budget cuts that Strauss had told him about, because he honestly doubted that any of them-especially Spencer- needed the extra stress. 'Well, at least JJ's back,' Hotch thought to himself.

"Well, we'll run a test again for it," the doctor nodded. "While we wait for the test results of that, would you like to start testing for.."

Aaron honestly couldn't remember what the doctor had said after that. He had become too engrossed in watching his youngest agent slither back and forth in his seat in attempt to distract his mind from the migraine he was currently having. The until chief had known about his subordinate's headaches, but he had no idea that the migraines were so frequent and so intense.

"Do whatever the hell you have to in order to stop these damned headaches," Hotch sneered. Then, impatiently he stood to his feet and let the doctor start testing.

~* Condolence *~

That night Spencer didn't go home- well, not to his home anyways. Since Jack was spending the weekend at an overnight fieldtrip with his school Aaron had insisted Spencer stay with him. In truth Aaron just wanted his youngest in close reach because his doctor had asked Aaron to keep an eye on his migraines. Though he seemed to have perked up some Aaron could tell Spencer was still in discomfort, and knowing that made his fatherly instincts kick in. The BAU team had been as close as family since their team had formed, so when one of his own was in pain he always felt the urge to rise up and take care of the problem.

"You didn't have to do this, Hotch," Spencer mumbled tiredly. Ever since he had been taken hostage by his boss Spencer had been falling in and out of consciousness, and he just wished that he could stay asleep for more than a few minutes at a time. The added aggravation from not being able to sleep worsened his headache, and he wanted nothing more than to sleep it off.

"Just try to sleep, alright?" Aaron called from the kitchen. A moment later he came out with a cup of water for Spencer and a glass of something Spencer couldn't quite make out for himself. Attentively Spencer took a sip of the water, but he immediately sat it back down on the coffee table. His headache was starting to make even sitting up a painful experience, so he immediately buried his face back in the pillows of the couch cushions. Suddenly the weight on the couch shifted and Spencer realized that Aaron was sitting next to him. "Come here Spencer," Aaron whispered softly. "It'll be okay."

"I-I'm sorry," Spencer stuttered out. Aaron could tell that Spencer was crying, and he was suddenly glad that he had offered his shoulder to cry on. He could feel the other man tremble underneath his hold, his headache obviously still killing him. Finally he felt Spencer's form still and he immediately realized he had fallen to sleep. Aaron sighed as he gently placed him down on the couch, and before he walked away he threw a blanket on top of him.

Just as Aaron was about to walk to the back of his house to retrieve another blanket, the sound of his front door ringing halted him. "Damn it," he hissed as he rushed back to his door, hoping that the noise wouldn't wake Spencer up. Once the door swung open, though, he immediately regretted his decision.

"Agent Hotchner," Strauss started grimly, "may I come in for a moment?"

"Yes, but please be quiet," Aaron nodded. "I have a guest spending sleeping on my couch."

"Would you like to do this somewhere-" Strauss started, but Aaron cut her off with a shake of his head.

"No, I'd rather stay here and keep an eye on him; he's been sick for a while," Aaron said. "If we're quiet we can work upstairs- if that's alright with you, of course…?"

Strauss sighed, but she reluctantly gave in. Aaron moved out of the way so Straus could help herself up the stairs, but as she crossed the living room she frowned. The figure on the couch looked awfully familiar, and though she wanted to question Aaron on who it was, she bit her tongue. Right now they needed to get down to business.

"So tell me Strauss," Aaron said after they were settled down in his study. "Why are you here?"

"I'm here because of this," Strauss replied grimly. She slammed down a thick legal-sized envelope that she had brought in her purse. Aaron carefully opened the envelope, and as he read the heading, he felt his stomach sink: BAU Budget Cuts- Team 113, SSA Aaron Hotchner.

"You should know that you think I hate you and your team, but your team makes progress and that's all that matters right now. Now, I was able to save Jennifer Jareau's position on the team because of this progress, but I can't save you from the rest of that packet," Strauss sighed.

Aaron skimmed through the first few pages of the packet, taking special note of the paragraphs containing the names of his team members. "Strauss, what is this all about?" he asked, exasperated.

"We both knew this day would happen," Strauss frowned, "but I'm afraid to say that time has come sooner than you thought it would…."

"Should I be sending out notices?" Aaron glared.

"No, god Aaron," Strauss scowled. "Your team is too good at the job; we can't afford to lose any of them."

"I'm sensing a 'but'," Aaron sighed, "so just say it already."

"But your team is at risk of splitting into different BAU teams. Your own team would consist of new agents and one agent already on it. The rest, however, would be assigned different teams so that they will hopefully be more affective."

Aaron bit his lip, silently letting a 'damn it' slip through his lips. "What…Do you have any clue as to what team my agents would be on?"

The hesitation that Strauss offered made Aaron hold his breath; that couldn't mean anything good. Sure enough, he was right. "To be honest, I don't even know if they would all be reassigned to an actual team. There was talk about having some agents transfer into a 'training' group that would help new agents understand-"

"You're talking about Reid," Aaron sighed, pinching the small of his nose. "The BAU wants him to teach…?" The outrage in his voice was more than evident, as was the annoyed expression on Strauss' own face.

"I don't like this either, Aaron, but the higher ups think that Reid has had enough experience and enough education to offer a very helpful insight to these new-"

"Screw them, Strauss! If they're that bad off than they should stop hiring new agents that have no clue what they're doing and let these experienced agents have their own jobs. Reid deserves to be on a team, not a-"

"_Aaron_," Straus suddenly glared, effectively stopping his rant. "We have a guest."

Hotch spun around in his chair to find Reid standing in the doorway with a sad expression. "Not a what, Aaron?"

TNBC (To Not be Continued. )


End file.
